Article Posted on : - Jul 13, 2011

Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai, Distinguished Scientist & Chief Controller (R&D), DRDO & Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, BrahMos Aerospace.

NEW DELHI (BNS): BrahMos Joint Venture is a role model for future global cooperations with India, Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO & MD BrahMos Aerospace said while addressing an international seminar on defence acquisition.

The International Seminar on Defence Acquisition, which was formally inaugurated by Indian Defence Minister A. K. Antony in New Delhi on Tuesday, is aimed at examining the best practices in defence acquisition.

"BrahMos is a role model for other JVs and all foreign entities can take this as an example for a successful business in India through Intergovernmental Agreements," said Dr. A.S. Pillai while addressing the conference.

The international seminar has brought together functionaries from the MoD, armed forces, and Industry of major developed and developing countries and experts for deliberation on the subject. The major issues that will also be discussed in these seminars include: technical requirement and capability definition; technical and commercial evaluation challenges; structural elements for efficient acquisition; contract and project management; IT opportunities in defence acquisition; empowering defence industrial and R&D base; role of offsets in acquisition; and efficient logistics management.

Dr. Pillai, in his presentation- 'Formulation, Execution and Implementation of R&D Projects'- focused on the important phases of the life cycle of R&D projects i.e. Project formulation, Project execution and implementation and also highlighted the important considerations based on the experiences gained during actual implementation of various strategic R&D projects.

He said, R&D organisations are today involved in handling critical projects of strategic importance which aim to build products and services that meet customer requirements with highest quality in the shortest possible time.

“A well-defined process for all activities that are involved in the realisation of a product/ system is the only method to meet these challenges. The faster and efficient the process, the stronger is the developed product/ system,” he added.

The eminent scientist also described about the Decision Aid for Technology Evaluation Technique (DATE), for adopting structured methodology for assessing the technology maturity level of project during feasibility study.

A brief explanation was given on tools and techniques related to quantitative / qualitative methods for schedule monitoring, review system, failure management, conflict resolution in multiple projects, integrated analysis of performance, cost and time.

The presentation was concluded with various case studies emphasising the importance and usefulness of the tools and techniques used in Project Management.

The three-day seminar, which started from 12th July, 2011 is being organised by Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi.